Career robber sentenced

Updated 11:05 pm, Friday, April 19, 2013

Christopher French, a Shelton, Conn. man, who went on a crime spree robbing businesses in Fairfield, Bridgeport and Stratford last year, was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Friday, April 19, 2013.

Christopher French, a Shelton, Conn. man, who went on a crime spree robbing businesses in Fairfield, Bridgeport and Stratford last year, was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Friday, April 19, 2013.

Photo: Fairfield Police Department

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BRIDGEPORT -- A Shelton man, who went on a crime spree robbing businesses in Fairfield, Bridgeport and Stratford last year, was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison.

"I do understand what I have done, but it's because I have an addiction," Christopher French told Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin Jr. "I'm scared that when I get out I'm going to do it again."

Devlin said that the 37-year-old French should "Be a man and help yourself."

Convicted of seven counts of first-degree robbery and one count each of attempted first-degree robbery and being a serious persistent felony offender, the judge ordered French to serve 13 years, followed by 12 years of special parole. The sentence is running concurrently with 10-year terms French is getting in the Milford and New Haven courts for robbery.

French, who is on parole for prior robberies, was arrested last May in connection with the April 29 robbery of Adam's Bakery on Black Rock Turnpike in Fairfield. Assistant State's Attorney Michael DeJoseph said French was identified as the person who robbed the Sahara Tanning Salon on the Post Road in Fairfield and the Two-Fold Laundry on Boston Avenue in Stratford.

While in custody for those robberies, DeJoseph said French confessed to the April 28 holdup of Hair 2000 on Vincellette Street, the May 1 robbery of the Subway on Broadbridge Road, the May 3 robbery of the Subway on Barnum Avenue and the May 5 robbery of Rudy's Flower Shop on Main Street.

In the last case, police said he told the female employee, "I'm having a bad day. I just killed somebody."

DeJoseph said it was later determined that French had used a toy gun in the robberies.

French's lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Jonathan Demirjian, told the judge that despite the fact that it was a toy gun, his client concedes that he scared a number of people.